Kitson Meyer 42-Inch Gauge Loco

By Peter Pardoe-Matthews

Peter Pardoe-Matthews continues his modeling of unique or unusual narrow gauge rolling stock with this soon-to-be-released 42-inch gauge Kitson Meyer articulated locomotive. Peter graciously agreed to provide us some background on this locomotive and its use in transporting sodium nitrate in Chile. - Ed

This is a Kitson Meyer Tank loco as used on the 42" gauge Taltal Nitrate Railway in Chile. This is an interesting design as, while it shares many features of the Mallet tanks, it is a much safer design in that it is a true bogied loco and does not suffer from the excessive overhang of the Mallet. It was much better suited to undulating track and tight curves whilst being quite stable at higher speeds. As a single boiler design it is better than the Fairlie, and I believe, even better than the Garratt, and that, for me, is a concession.

Background

During the latter part of the 1800s and up to the middle of the 1900s, Chile was a source of sodium nitrate, used as a fertilizer and also as a constituent of some explosives. Chile lies on the Pacific coast of South America and is a long narrow country running down a coastline that in places allowed a narrow band of populated areas between the sea and the high desert plains. The nitrate occurs in association with other impurities in a hard rock like form, and has to be broken down into smaller pieces for transport to the refining stations. In the early days the broken lumps were hauled by mule cart. Later, light lines were laid to allow mule drawn wagons, and later still small steam engines were used.

The sodium nitrate, a white crystalline mineral, was leached from the broken rock in warm water, which was then evaporated to leave behind the pure sodium nitrate. Shipping was normally in bags, typically 100 pounds (45.45 kg) and the transport of these bags to the coast was the reason for the railways. The centralized location where the refining took place were referred to as �Oficinas� and were run by different companies, all connected by rail to the associated railway company

To reach the nitrate mining and refining areas the railways faced a difficult climb up the Western slope of the Andes. In the case of the Anglo Chilean Nitrate and Railway Company, their locomotives faced a climb of 17 miles of continuous 1 in 25 grades combined with curves as tight as 181 ft minimum radius. Adding to the difficulties, these lines ran where it very seldom rains, and water was mainly obtained by distillation of seawater.

During the early years, many locomotive designs were used, including Mallets from Baldwin, and Fairlies. None of these seemed to suit the two lines that interest me, although it must be admitted that the possible prejudices of the then chief engineers may have biased the choices. Another line farther north seemed quite happy with standard gauge Fairlies. I must admit that I was at first interested in the Kitson Meyer locomotives; interest in the reasons for their existence came later. What sparked the interest were the 3' 6" gauge Kitson Meyer articulated locomotives, very capable machines that could haul 125-ton trains up-grade and used by the companies mentioned below. It is worth mentioning here that on the Transandine mountain route over the Andes between Chile and Argentina, much larger Kitson Meyers were employed. These were 90 ton 0-8+6-0T monsters on metre gauge track and used a combination of adhesion with rack running for the steeper grades. That is a project for the future.

My concerns were for the Anglo Chilean Nitrate and Railway Company, which later became the FerroCarril de Tocopilla al Toco (FCTT). The other railway was the FerroCarril Taltal (FCT). These were not small operations; the FCTT is reported to have had a total of 38 locomotives of varying types including 13 Kitson Meyers. The Taltal reportedly had 15 Kitson Meyers and ran 15 trains a day to the nitrate fields.

Sadly, except for two preserved examples, all the Kitson Meyers are gone, the nitrate trade has dwindled, and any lines that run now are electric or diesel hauled. The FCTT converted to electric overhead using interesting looking box cabs,

The Kitson Meyer form of articulation was very popular in South America for work in difficult terrain. Kitson made 78 of this type of locomotive and the greater majority was used in on that continent. The prototype for the FCTT was made in 1894 and is represented by the locomotive in the works� grey livery. The other two were made later although it is considered possible that Taltal #61 may have been one of the earlier deliveries to the FCTT. They weighed between 55 to 62 tons in working order and were rated to haul 179 tons up a 4% grade at 8-10 mph with a tractive effort of 27,000 lbs.

I must admit to a change in my preference for what I consider to be the best locomotive design, I now think that the Kitson Meyer principle was superior to the Garratt and the Mallett and it is regrettable that due to poor salesmanship on the part of Kitson that the final tally for these locomotives was only 78, with the last being built in 1935.

Prompted by a project being undertaken by a friend, and for my own interest, I have created several of these locomotives and some rolling stock. The only source of data I had were photographs for the locomotives and a couple of photos and much guesswork for the stock. Unfortunately, information about these railways is virtually non-existent. I have some later evidence that the FCTT used US type bogie stock, which is likely because the US was �just up the road�, so it is probable that the Taltal did the same. Before I had this information I created the tank cars and freight car, which were �imagineered� as being most likely to have been made locally using the basic gondola frame and wheels. The caboose was found as a distant image in a photograph of a nitrate train.

These locomotives would be very much at home on a route with high climbs with tight curves, sandy rocky countryside, very few trees and sparse vegetation. The passenger cars were used to connect to the Chilean Longitudinal Railway (FCNG), a metre gauge line, which ran almost the length of Chile on the high 'pampa'.

To answer the inevitable question, the rear stack is for only for steam from the rear unit. The ones I have modeled were oil fired.

Comments about the models

The Bagged nitrate models are very high poly and are not suited tolong trains in populated areas; use them wisely. There are interiors with cab views in the green Taltal locomotives, the passenger cars and the caboose. The Taltal locomotives are steam enabled with scripts and calculations by Bob Pearson. Tests have shown that he is right on the mark for performance. My thanks to Bob and to the other people like Mike and Ben Neal who pointed out my inevitable errors.

A final plug for Trainzone: As always these models will be available on the 42-inch gauge TrainZone web site courtesy of Sirgibby.

Enjoy

Narrowgauge